Friday, September 4, 2009

High school football is back in full force and our crew had our first game last Friday night. We ventured to Dayton Welcome Stadium to officiate the Lakota West vs. Clayton Northmont game in the Skyline Crosstown Showdown.

When I arrived I was surprised because I could hear cheers and a game going on. I wasn't aware that on Thursday night the Mason vs. Trotwood Madison game was stopped due to the weather. So I got to enjoy watching the end of that game. Mason ended up winning 20-17.

At this point in time on that day the weather was awesome. My oh my how quickly things can change. A few minutes into the game we had to delay the game due to lightening and thunder. Good thing we had the early game, it started at 6p. However, there was a game to be played after ours.

After a half hour delay we were back at it. The teams were playing hard and some intense defense. I had 3-4 flags in the game. Unfortunately, one of them was for a sideline warning. I have a bad feeling that there may be a lot of those this year. I sure hope not.

Northmont almost scored once in the half when they made it into Lakota's red zone. But there was a pass play right in front of me and the ball was deflected and intercepted in the end zone.

The score at halftime was 0-0. We were anticipating a close second half as well. Northmont opened up the scoring with a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to go up 7-0. It looked like it might end up with that score, but with about 5 minutes to go Lakota's linebacker made an awesome play by rushing the quarterback, deflecting his pass backward in the air, ran underneath it, intercepted it inside the 20 yd line and advanced it to the 2 yard line. A few plays later they scored a touchdown. Next was the all important extra point. I was positioned under the uprights ready for it to be kicked but something happened on either the snap or the hold so it was no good. That made the score 7-6 Northmont.

This game came down to the wire. With about 9.5 seconds to Lakota West had the ball trying to get in field goal range. Quarterback dropped back to pass and threw it around the 30-35 yard line. But Northmont intercepted it and ran it back for a touchdown on the last play of the game. Their team swarmed the field and I was doing my best to keep from getting trampled.

What a way to start the season. Great game, great players, and great atmosphere!